A Study in Death — Iain McDowall

Dr. Roger Harvey, an academic who pursues women and European history with equal passion, is found murdered in his apartment. Detective Sargent Ian Kerr and Detective Chief Inspector Frank Jacobson can discern no obvious motive for the murder. Harvey didn't do serious drugs and didn't have a criminal record. Not even his closest friends can throw any light on the mystery that threatens to unravel in every direction. Kerr and Jacobson find the case difficult to crack, which increases Jacobson's dependence on alcohol, and puts more pressure on Kerr's disintegrating marriage.

To untangle the dark threads of the mystery, the case takes them from Crowby University to Amsterdam, and involves everything from million dollar machinations in the software industry, to New Age cultists in the English Lake District.